I Wish Republicans Valued Democracy As Much As They Say They Value Freedom

A cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
—   Oscar Wilde
.
On This Day In:
2019	Something Very Different
2018	For Most Of Us
2017	Stories We Need On Life’s Edge
2016	Heart Trouble
2015	From The Inside Out
2014	Alone And Free
2013	Superstition Is Your Way
2012	Escape Hatches
2011	Sing Like No One Is Listening

Read Full Post »

An Act Of Faith

In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.  Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects.
—    J. William Fulbright
.
On This Day In:
2019	Fostering Debate
2018	The Births Of Spring
2017	Drug Epidemic In America
2016	Word Up, Chuck!
2015	Sometimes I Wonder About Things
2014	Still Racing
2013	Anew
2012	Make Both
2011	Are You Happy Yet?

Read Full Post »

One Lesson In Diversity

One lesson is to have diverse voices at the table, to make sure democracy is retained.  But there are also things that we can’t put price tags on.  Some things are part of our public welfare, and we should not look at a balance book to do them.
—   Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha
(Discussing the poisoning of the Flint, Michigan public water supply.)
As quoted by:  Belinda Luscombe
In her interview titled: “8 Questions“
Appearing in: Time Magazine, dtd: 9 July 2019
.
On This Day In:
2019	And Yet, I Believe
2018	Beats
	First Step: Starting Cleansing (Again)
2017	Effective Stimuli
2016	Dave’s Not Here, Man
2015	Blink
2014	The Struggle To Educate America Continues…
2013	On Elections
2012	Warm Smiles
	Pick Your Poison
2011	Straight Shooters

Read Full Post »

A Simple Fact

It’s a simple fact that technology has been weaponized by private companies against democracy.  Corporations are not people.  They don’t have souls.  They’re institutions designed to make money.  And the way the government has always dealt with them is to regulate them to the point where they cease being dangerous to the public.
—    Barry C. Lynn
Executive Director
Open Markets Institute
As quoted by: Romesh Ratnesar
In his article: “Trust“
Appearing in Time Magazine,  dtd:  16 September 2019
.
On This Day In:
2019	Does Terrible But Not Important Count?
2018	Have You Stretched Today?
	The Original
2017	Being Nice
2016	Zero To Some = Most
2015	Born More Obligated
2014	Rage And Fury
2013	Successful Children
2012	For God So Loved The World
2011	Go Cheeseheads!!
	Structured Mentality

Read Full Post »

Don’t Mess With The Lady

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday (5 Dec 2019), that the House is moving forward to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. “Our democracy is what is at stake.  The president leaves us no choice but to act.“
As she was leaving the press briefing platform she was asked if she hated President Donald Trump.   Pelosi turned and pointed at the reporter asking the question and said:  “I don’t hate anybody.  We don’t hate anybody.  Not anybody in the world.  Don’t accuse me.“
She returned to the podium to continue:  “I think the president is a coward when it comes to helping our kids who are afraid of gun violence.  I think he is cruel when he doesn’t deal with helping our dreamers.  I think he’s in denial about the climate crisis.“
Impeachment, she emphasized, was about protecting the “Constitution of the United States,” rather than about policy disagreements or dislike of the president which could wait for the election.
“As a Catholic, I resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me.  I don’t hate anyone.“
Speaker Pelosi continued, saying she prayed for the president, and, in fact did so every day.
As she turned to leave the stage she concluded:  “So don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that.“
.
On This Day In:
2018	Seek A Clear View
2017	Living With Myself
2016	Still Looking In Mirrors?
2015	Fear No Evil
2014	And Nothing Can Be As Tragic As…
2013	Your Tax Dollars At Work
2012	Historically Unacceptable
2011	Niners Are NFC West Division Champions!!
	The Essence Of Leadership

Read Full Post »

No Small Thing

[Journalist] independence is no small thing.  It marks the distinction between tyranny and democracy.  And in a world where budding authoritarians have advanced by blurring the difference, there was a clarity in the spectacle of a tyrant’s fury visited up a man armed only with a pen.  Because the strongmen of the world only look strong.  All despots live in fear of their people.  To see genuine strength, look to the spaces where individuals dare to describe what’s going on in front of them.
—  Karl Vick
From his article: “The Guardians And The War On Truth“
From Time Magazine, dtd: December 24th / 31st, 2018
.
On This Day In:
2018	Unsaid And Undone
2017	Evidence Of Faith
2016	Patience Is A Virtue
2015	Slow Faith
2014	Not In Any Sense
2013	The Circus On TV
2012	To Be Stronger
2011	Are You Sure?

Read Full Post »

Remember Your Duty In November

The responsibility of a country is not in the hands of a privileged few.  We are strong, and we are free from tyranny as long as each one of us remembers his or her duty as a citizen.  Whether it’s to report a pothole at the top of your street or lies in a State of the Union address, speak out!  Ask those questions.  Demand that truth.  Democracy is not a free ride, man.  I’m here to tell you.  But, this is where we live.  And if we do our job, this is where our children will live.  God bless America.
—    Joseph C. Wilson IV (played by Sean Penn)
Former United States diplomat who’s wife (Valerie Plame) was depicted as a CIA “operative” outed by the White House during the Iraq War
The quote is taken from the movie: “Fair Game“
[I will leave it to future historians to settle the dispute of Ms. Plame’s status, the reason for Mr. Wilson’s trips to Africa and whether or not the Bush Administration publicly “outed” a government asset.   —    KMAB]
.
On This Day In:
2017	Play Well With Others
2016	Surviving And Challenging
2015	On Destroying Historic / Archaeological Sites
2014	Magical Power
2013	How Awesome Would That Be
2012	Two Views
2011	Still Looking For Examples
2010	Giants Win Away 3 – 2!!

Read Full Post »

It Is No Secret

It is no secret in my country, in the USA, democracy and freedom upon freedom is under attack.  It is dizzying and maddening to say the very least.  These are radical — sometimes, often even, inexplicably complicated and complex times — and one of the things that pains and concerns me the most is the attack on the truth.  The eroding of our ability to engage in intelligent, respectful and respectable discourse as a humane society.
As a nation, as a world, as a global network of artists, writers, creatives, connected ever faster and with more and more urgency, we are losing touch with the essentials for growth, nourishment, deep thought, deep commitment to our soul’s purpose of truth-telling, no matter how painful or uncomfortable that may be.
I call myself a writer.  Maybe you do, too, or maybe you don’t.  But either way, we are all contributors to language, we are all users and shapers of words and ideas, how we use them to build up or destroy, to honor our common dignity or to pick away at it.
—  Allison Marie Conway
[This quote was found at: https://allisonmarieconway.com/
The specific link is: https://allisonmarieconway.com/2018/08/13/on-art-democracy-dangerous-play/
Please visit the original site if you have a spare minute (or two).  —  KMAB]
.
On This Day In:
2017	Cowardly Defamation
2016	With No Allowance For Chance?
2015	Details
2014	Here’s One…
2013	Non-Fungible Commodities
2012	Hope And Tears
2011	Just Long Enough
	Meaningful Thoughts

Read Full Post »

But Me

I swear to the Lord,
I still can’t see,
Why Democracy means,
Everybody but me.
―  Langston Hughes
.
On This Day In:
2017	A Little More, Please
2016	In Full Vigor
2015	A Good Lad
2014	Who Dare Not Speak
2013	I Love Beer
2012	Trial By Jury
2011	First Class
	Got Knowledge?

Read Full Post »

In Spite Of The President

LIBERTY!
FREEDOM!
DEMOCRACY!
True anyhow no matter how many
Liars use those words.
―  Langston Hughes
.
On This Day In:
2016	And Sets
	And My God For His Graces
2015	About Character
2014	Your Gain
2013	Look Up
2012	Count Me In
2011	Pirates Four, Three Songs
	Sir Charles
	Look First, Not Last
2010	Par-a-diddle

Read Full Post »

We Must Dissent

We cannot play ostrich.  Democracy just cannot flourish amid fear.  Liberty cannot bloom amid hate.  Justice cannot take root amid rage.  America must get to work.  In the chill climate in which we live, we must go against the prevailing wind.  We must dissent from the indifference.  We must dissent from the apathy.  We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust.  We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away.  We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope.  We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership.  We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.
The legal system can force open doors and sometimes even knock down walls.  But it cannot build bridges.  That job belongs to you and me.  Afro and White, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, our fates are bound together.  We can run from each other but we cannot escape each other.  We will only attain freedom if we learn to appreciate what is different and muster the courage to discover what is fundamentally the same.  America’s diversity offers so much richness and opportunity.  Take a chance, won’t you?  Knock down the fences that divide.  Tear apart the walls that imprison.  Reach out, freedom lies just on the other side.  We should have liberty for all.
—  Thurgood Marshall
Former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Acceptance Speech for the Liberty Medal
July 4, 1992
Independence Hall
Philadelphia, PA
[I “found” this quote when it was read (twice) in the Netflix TV series “Daredevil” which I reviewed earlier this month.  The sentences about “dissent” were quoted.  —  KMAB]
.
On This Day In:
2014	Now What?
2013	Judgement
2012	Stuck In My Mind
	Life’s Hope
2011	Just Getting Up
	Directions Please

Read Full Post »

A Cult Of Ignorance

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been.  The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.
—   Isaac Asimov
.
On This Day In:
2012	Counting Valor
	Understanding Faith
2011	I Can Hear You Now
2010	Inception

Read Full Post »

Democratic Suicide

Remember, democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.  There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
—    John Adams
.

Read Full Post »